"With the hype over the
initial release of the VIA VP3 AGP Chipset finally dying down, it is time to make the
final judgements on the boards that cut it...and those that don't."

So went the review of the original 5AGM from
Chaintech, an AT Socket-7 AGP motherboard that brought more than a well written manual to
the buying scene. Now, three months later, armed with the VIA MVP3 chipset, can
Chaintech find a worthy successor to their hit board in the 5AGM2? Or have times
changed so incredibly much that a worthy successor to the original 5AGM just won't cut it?
In the slowly maturing Super7 world, let's see how well the 5AGM2 stacks up against
its older brother, and more importantly, the competition.

A 90 degree rotation of the CPU Socket, the removal of all
SIMM slots, and the addition of a third DIMM slot are what separate the Chaintech 5AGM2
from probably its most fierce competitor, the FIC VA-503+. Unlike some AT form
factor Super7 motherboards, the 5AGM2 does give you the option of using a Voodoo2 based
accelerator or any other full length PCI cards in the last of the three PCI slots the
board is equipped with. The three complimentary ISA slots on the board are
positioned in such a way that two are usable by full length cards, making room for your
old sound card in your new purchase. Parallel to the peripheral expansion slots are
your three DIMM slots, accepting either EDO or SDRAM DIMMs of any speed as long as they
work at the 66MHz FSB frequency.

The heart of the 5AGM2 is the incredibly
popular VIA MVP3 chipset, coupled with the 512KB of on-board L2 cache the chipset allows
for a fairly sizable 128MB Cacheable Memory Area. The board AnandTech tested was
using revision 'CD' of the chipset while you can expect all newer 5AGM2's to come prepared
with the newest 'CE' revision which boasts full compatibility with i740 graphics
accelerators. While the 5AGM2 tested didn't experience any problems with an i740
accelerator when the proper drivers and patches were applied from VIA (www.via.com.tw), this may not be true for all 'CD' based
boards so to be on the safe side remember to check for a 'CE' revision label.

Setting up the 5AGM2 isn't as bad as the
VA-503+ from FIC, however because of the more advanced chipset, the 5AGM2 is a bit more
complicated than the original 5AGM as far as configuration and initial setup is concerned.
The FSB settings, selectable from a list topping out at 100MHz and bottoming out at
60MHz, are controlled by three individual jumpers out of a block containing 7 total.
Three more of the 7 jumpers make up the clock multiplier selection settings,
offering possibilities in the 1.5x to 5.5x range. Voltage settings are controlled by
a separate jumper block adjacent to the CPU Socket wedged between one of the 19
electrolytic capacitors spread throughout the board and a 3-pin CPU fan connector.
The last jumper on the FSB/clock multiplier block allows you to select the memory bus
frequency, you can either have it run at the FSB frequency or at your AGP Clock Frequency
which is usually around 66MHz. Courtesy of the MVP3 chipset you can re-use your
standard SDRAM or even EDO RAM as long as it is available in a 168-pin DIMM package and
can cope with at least the speed of your AGP Bus. Considering the extremely
affordable $84 price tag of the 5AGM2, this makes putting together a high-end system on a
low-end budget within the reach of virtually anyone.

The jumper setup on the 5AGM2 is much easier
than most motherboards in its class excluding the Epox MVP3C-M, as if that weren't enough,
the classic 54-page User's Manual from Chaintech will make the 5AGM2 an experience you
will definitely remember. From the Jumper Layout & Diagram quick reference
sticker in the back of the manual, to the diagrams which populate the well written manual,
Chaintech's intentions were made quite clear in the words printed on the box: "We
Don't Imitate, We Innovate." Don't plan on finding any forms of corporate
flattery in the Chaintech User's Manual, sticking to their slogan the manual imitates no
other except in its quality. Also bundled with the 5AGM2 are the VIA Bus Master IDE
drivers and the AGP Drivers for the MVP3 chipset, as a general rule of thumb, if you plan
on using a DVD-ROM drive with your system you will want to avoid using the VIA drivers in
favor of the Microsoft DMA drivers that come bundled with Windows 9x to avoid any
problems.

Stability and performance are what can be
expected from the majority of well made Super7 motherboards, overall, a decent product and
a worthy successor to the 5AGM throne...but is that enough?

A common item left out of the bundles of most
AT motherboards is a USB header to let you take advantage of a board's USB support, this
common occurrence unfortunately is present with the 5AGM2. With USB devices becoming
more commonplace among the average computer owner expect to spend around $10 - $20 on a
USB header to take advantage of the MVP3 Chipset's USB support. Other than that,
there isn't much more to complain about with the 5AGM2. Excellent price, outstanding
written documentation, and a well made board make the 5AGM2 worthy of the Chaintech name.